What Chinese Zodiac Is 1958? Year of the Earth Dog

When the 1958 Earth Dog year starts and ends

The 1958 Earth Dog year began at Lunar New Year on February 18, 1958 and lasted until February 7, 1959, the day before the next new year. Anyone born between January 1 and Feb 18 1958 therefore belongs to the Fire Rooster year that started in 1957, while someone born in early 1959, up to Feb 7, is still a Earth Dog. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, which is why the start date moves between January 21 and February 20 instead of staying on January 1. The same Earth Dog combination also falls in 2018, sixty years apart, because five elements and twelve animals realign only once in each sixty-year cycle. Lunar New Year 1958 fell on a Tuesday, while the Western Sun was in Aquarius.

Earth Dog personality

Dependable, patient and deeply loyal, the Earth Dog is the friend who turns up with practical help. The Dog's fixed element is Earth, so this year doubles it, and tradition describes exceptional steadiness and fairness. People born now value honesty above flash. Pessimism and brooding are the shadows, which humour and small new experiences tend to lift. Their quiet sense of fairness steadies any group.

Earth sits at the centre of the five-element wheel, and an Earth year is traditionally said to give any animal steadiness, patience and a practical turn of mind. Descriptions associate it with reliability, honesty and a talent for holding things together, whether that means a family, a budget or a team in a difficult season. Earth-year people are often portrayed as grounded, fair and good at turning ideas into workable plans. The element is linked with nourishment and care, so it carries a quiet generosity. Its shadow, in most readings, is heaviness: worry, stubbornness and a reluctance to move until every risk has been weighed twice.

1958 in numerology and the twelve-year cycle

In numerology the year reduces to 5, the number of change, freedom and movement, and a 5 year is usually described as restless and full of variety. The digits of 1958 add up to 23, which reduces to 5. In the twelve-year cycle the Dog is the eleventh animal, earthly branch Xu, with Earth as its fixed element and Yang polarity. The year element is Earth, and in the five-element cycles earth year element matches the fixed element. The year before was the Fire Rooster and the year after is the Earth Pig.

In the traditional sexagenary count the year is called Wu-Xu: Wu is the Earth heavenly stem and Xu is the Dog's earthly branch. Stems and branches alternate between yang and yin together, which is why yang stems only ever meet yang animals.